Our Army and Navy
Performed by William H. Taft
Recorded August 5, 1908
Mr. McKinley and Mr. Roosevelt
and the Republican party have constantly advocated
the policy with respect to the army and the navy that
will keep this republic ready at all times to defend
her territory and her doctrine, and to assure her
appropriate part in promoting permanent tranquility
among the nations. I welcome from whatever motives
the change in the Democratic attitude towards the
maintenance and support of an adequate navy, and hope
that in the next platform the silence of the present
platform in respect to the army will be changed to
an acquiescence in its maintenance to the point of
efficiency in connection with the efficiently reorganized
militia and the national volunteers for the proper
defense of the country in times of war, and that the
discharge of those duties in times of peace for which
the army, as at present constituted, has shown itself
so admirably adapted in the Philippines, in San Francisco,
in Cuba and elsewhere. We are a world power and cannot
help it, and although at peace with all the world
and secure in the consciousness that the American
people do not desire and will not provoke a war with
any other country, we must be prudent and not be lulled
into a sense of security which would possibly expose
us to national humiliation. Our best course, therefore,
is to insist on a constant improvement in our navy
and its maintenance at the highest point of efficiency.
The position which our country has won under Republican
administration before the world should inure to the
benefit of everyone, even the humblest of those entitled
to look to the American flag for protection without
regard to race, creed or color, and whether he is
a citizen of the United States or of any of our dependencies.
In some countries with which we are on friendly terms,
distinctions are made in respect to the treatment
of our citizens traveling abroad and having passports
of our executive. Based on considerations that are
repugnant to the principles of our government and
civilization, the Republican party and administration
will continue to make every proper endeavor to secure
the abolition of such distinction, which in our eyes
are both needless and appropriate.